The Quantum Act: Can Europe Avoid an ‘AI Repeat’ as the Global Race Heats Up?

As Brussels prepares to release the first draft of the Quantum Act in Q2 2026, the continent finds itself at a familiar crossroads. Having largely ceded the generative AI race to American hyperscalers, European investors and policymakers are now issuing a stark warning: Quantum cannot be next.

The Capital Gap: 5% vs. 50%

Despite a flurry of new fund launches—including Paris-based Quantonation’s €220 million oversubscribed fund and Denmark’s 55North’s €300 million vehicle—the structural funding gap remains cavernous.

According to European Commission data, only 5% of global private capital is currently allocated to European quantum companies. In sharp contrast, the United States commands 50%. This disparity is driving Europe’s brightest stars across the Atlantic; Finnish unicorn IQM recently announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger in the US, seeking the liquidity and valuation premiums that European markets currently lack.

Regulation: The Double-Edged Sword

Daiva Rakauskaitė, CFA and partner at Aneli Capital, argues that Europe’s penchant for early regulation could be its undoing. While the Quantum Act aims to unify a fragmented market, Rakauskaitė warns that premature “guardrails” could stifle a sector that is still in its infancy.

“Europe already lags behind many US companies and universities,” Rakauskaitė notes. “If Europe does not want to lose the quantum race… it must first give startups the freedom to move fast and avoid burdening them with regulation on a market that is still taking shape.”

The $97 Billion Stakes

The urgency is not merely academic. McKinsey estimates that the three pillars of Quantum Technology (QT)—computing, communication, and sensing—could generate $97 billion in global revenue by 2035. Beyond the revenue, quantum represents a fundamental shift in:

• Cybersecurity: Future systems could render current encryption obsolete, making “Post-Quantum Cryptography” a matter of national security.
• Industry Pilots: Sectors such as pharmaceuticals, finance, and logistics are already moving from theory to “quantum-ready” pilots to identify value creation points.

Editor’s Take: The Pension Fund Solution

Europe sits on roughly €3 trillion in pension assets, yet only a minuscule fraction is funnelled into high-growth venture capital. Rakauskaitė’s proposal is clear: to compete with the sheer weight of US and Chinese state-backed capital, Europe must unlock its institutional “dry powder.”

For the ASEAN observer, this serves as a cautionary tale. As Malaysia charts its own technology roadmap, the lesson from Brussels is that top-tier talent and world-class universities (which Europe possesses in abundance) are insufficient without a regulatory environment that prioritises commercialisation over caution.

Quantum Competitiveness: Europe vs. USA (2026)